February 18, 2025 • 22 mins
During a whirlwind 24 hours, Gabe Lenners explores a creepy new theory: could something be falling from these strange objects? Unexplained connections surface as sightings persist, making the idea seem plausible. A sheriff reveals something startling beneath the drones’ flight paths.
This episode covers:
Chapter Five - Bad Juju
Chapter Six - Space Potatoes
https://www.obscurumseries.com/podcast/invasion-of-the-drones/24-hours
Music by Epidemic Sound
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Last time on OBSCURUM
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Drones, I saw some type of craft.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
It just disappears one minute was there one minute It wasn't.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
Somebody's making money doing this, otherwise it wouldn't exist. Normally,
it would.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Say like local, Like if it's a local call, it
would say Sterling, Colorado, where it would say where it's from.
It had lifted Palestinian territory.
Speaker 5 (00:30):
I have heard and I haven't seen.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I seen a picture of like a green substance that's
been dropped.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Could you make out that it was in fact a drone?
Speaker 6 (00:40):
Sounds better than a UFO identified flying object?
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Basically, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
A quick note, some material in this episode is graphic
and unsettling. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
The first time was Sunday night. Yeah, the items were
in a I guess what you would call kind of
a mesh bag, and then there was a frozen mass
in there.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
When I finally got the answer about what was in
that mesh bag, I'd had a crazy twenty four hours
that started when Marcie added to the already strangeness of
this story by saying something was falling from drones at night.
But that was only the beginning chapter five, bad juju.
(01:54):
I'm glad they have coffee here. I was absolutely last
night researching this, looking through articles. If the green stuff
was being dropped from these mysterious objects, someone had seen
it firsthand, taken a picture and shared it. I racked
my brain to figure out who may know more. I
(02:15):
left a message with a friend who used to be
a local reporter. Then I searched for information. I'd heard
about a crew of people who'd banded together to investigate
the sightings themselves.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
When I was little, I had ricorring dreams, and in
those dreams, I was old man, and in those dreams,
I was exploring in the different mountain ranges, different sides.
I think I started looking maybe when I was seventeen
or eighteen, and I would just look the satellite and
(02:49):
just and maps and anything i'd get a hold of.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
When I connected with Rod Miller, who started the group,
he described himself as a concern local with a lifelong
passion for studying geography in ancient history. Everyone thinks these
are drones. For better or worse, people are saying there's
drones out here.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
For me and the group that I started, we used
the word drone because it was comfortable to other people
because if you mentioned UFO, you know, the drone was,
you could talk about it without people up stamping.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
You're crazy. At what point do you go ahead and
start this group? After those first few sightings.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Right, okay, we were out and literally we counted it's
like eighty some of these craft and I have nine grandkids,
four kids, and they all live in this area. Instantly,
my concern was, you know, one, they weren't legal. They
(03:55):
didn't have the three life system. That's whether you're militaria
or whether you're not up military. That is normally what
they have. So that's pretty much what YT started.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
By this point, the group had a small presence on
social media. However, I became aware that the most devoted
members had moved to private channels to share their thoughts.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
What happens is the is the bright lighted orb drone,
whatever you want to call it. We'll get up in
the sky and when you first, if you don't see
it get there, it just looks like another star up there.
But as it's sitting there, you know you'll and you're
watching it, zoomed in on it with the with your camera.
When you do, you'll just see these little red lights
(04:41):
drop out of it. And then those little red lights
will work this sky. And I say work because it
seems like they're working, and they'll work their way down
to the ground a lot of times. When they get
near the ground, then this like a rid beam of
light will go across the ground.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
There was something very compelling about Rod. He had tattoos
covering his face and arms, a gray beard, and piercing eyes.
He was passionate, and I had a feeling I was
only beginning to see how driven he actually was. Rod
never mentioned that he'd seen anything falling from unexplained aircraft,
(05:24):
but he did suggest that I contact a cattle rancher
named Alex Peterson. Alex had locked in on one of
the aircraft with his gun in a thermal scope at night,
recording what he saw.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
What the fuck? Oh that is beyond creepy.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Whose two objects that it is really hard to keep.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
On and is coming right over me and I'm trying
to hold steady.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
He didn't pull the trigger.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Oh there's another one coming off of it.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
What in the hell?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Alex described the scene to me that took place above
his farm.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
You know, I was watching it and it was coming
right down the river with blinking lights, a red blinking
light and a solid white light, and all of a
sudden it turned towards me. The lights turned off, so
I'm like, oh, okay, where did it go? So I
looked through my scope and then I could see this
(06:27):
square five by five bucks in orange with bars going
through it. It was the weirdest damn thing I ever seen.
And then all of a sudden, three bright lights which
I could only see through my scope, so they had
the infrared. I'm not kidney and my hair was standing up.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Do you feel like this strone was targeting you specifically
and you you were there?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah? Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
As we visited, it didn't take long to realize the
ranch held many secrets.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I get up there, the cow is setting upright, and
there's completely cut apart, but she's setting like, you know,
like a cow sleeps now. I was like, what in
the heck? All the neck, the skin off of her neck,
all the way down to her shoulder was just gone.
(07:27):
I looked up on the under side of her skulp
because all the meat was off of her the side
of her head, and there was a hole right up
into her brain.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Bad juju since twenty thirteen, thirteen cows had been violently
killed in different areas of the ranch. There was no
explanation as to how they died. Alex showed me photos
of what he experienced in the pastor his description of
one of the deaths was extremely disturbing.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
She had been dropped, and you could see she'd been
dropped just from the vcs that had been shot out.
I mean, like thirty feet she's gone, bust it up.
The calf was gone. She would have been six months pregnant,
and then all the jaw and the tongue was gone again,
and the eyeballs were still there. So it was not
(08:24):
a predator, because that's the first thing they would have done.
I looked around for tracks. There's no predator tracks. There's
no pickup tracks, nothing. I pulled my pick up up
about fifteen feet away from it, and I called my brother,
and so him and his son came up. We started
walking up and he's walking. I walked up to the
(08:45):
cow and he's walking up, and my phone just went
no service as soon as he got up, you know,
with one hundred and fifty feet no service, his son
one hundred and fifty feet no service. Walked back and
then our phones would work. I went and got back
in my pickup, which is Brandy pickup. Dead, dead as
(09:08):
a door nail.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
His cell phone lost service and truck battery died in
close proximity to a dead cow. It was my assumption
that would ever killed these animals had to approach them
on the ground. Alex was convinced it came from the sky.
Speaker 6 (09:28):
There was no tracks. He couldn't find any foot tracks,
any pickup tracks. And how anybody would even know how
to get in there because it's very inaccessible too, How
would they get the cow down to do that? And
three they were visibly dropped. Looking at the cows, they
(09:50):
were all busted up. I mean they were busted up bad,
so they had to have fallen from least fifty to
one hundred feet.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Would you just drive yourself as someone who's fascinated by
strange aircrafts.
Speaker 6 (10:04):
No, not necessarily. I raised cattle. I've been around kettle
my entire life, and when this started happening, I knew
something was wrong with it because I've seen you know,
cattle dye. I've seen all that before, but this was different. Now,
I'll say, with the mutilations and just the weird conditions,
(10:27):
and then the drones started flying over just weird things
that pay a lot more attention.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Now Chapter six, Space Potatoes. I had a miscall from
the reporter i'd reached out to that morning. I called
(10:53):
her back and it wasn't long before she told me
about a couple who lived outside of Imperial. They'd been
visiting with the sheriff near their home when they overheard
through his police radio that drones were dropping things on
county roads and someone had gathered them all up. This
was now the second time I'd heard about stuff falling
(11:14):
from flying objects, in addition to Alex's assumption that at
least one of his cows was killed on impact. Were
these reports true or just another small town rumor?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
So what do you really think is going on with
all this?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
I don't know. You know, people have drones in the county.
They use them for cattle and stuff, but not like
on a big scale, and they're never the big But
the weirdest thing is is, you know, people have seen
strange lights in this area forever. There's even been well,
you know how small towns are, but people have been
(11:55):
talking and saying these things maybe dropping something out of them,
and so I'm to know what I'm going to do.
I think tonight I just may call it a night.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
And come home.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
After a quick call with my mom. A few hours later,
I pulled off the highway near the Imperial Airport to
see one of those beautiful Nebraska sunsets. As it got dark,
mystifying lights began to appear in the sky. It was
at this time that I was sent a picture of
what Marcy said the craft were dropping. In the photo,
(12:37):
I could see what Marcy had mentioned. It looked like
they were being kept behind a chain link gate in
a dark storage facility and didn't resemble anything I'd seen before.
They were capsules roughly six to twelve inches long and
wrapped tightly in some type of green covering. I'd heard
(12:57):
a couple deputies from the nearby town of just north
of Imperial may have had them in their possession. I
dialed Perkins County Sheriff James Bruggaman's office, and his luck
would have it, he wasn't in. He was supposed to
be back that afternoon, so I left a message, But
I soon realized it may take me going there in
(13:20):
person to get him to talk The courthouse is located
near the edge of town. It's an older brick building
with three levels. I parked in front, walked up a
few flights of stairs, and went straight to the front desk.
(13:41):
I was told the sheriff was in his office but
unavailable to talk. I tried connecting with the receptionist by
explaining that I'd grown up in Imperial and played football
for the local high school. I wasn't leaving until I
had answers about those capsules. I was eventually led back
(14:03):
to the sheriff's office and given an interview. I had
many questions, but knew I could lead with the capsules.
I didn't want to make him feel as if he
couldn't trust me with sensitive information. I'll go ahead and
just have you say your full name, James Brugman, Okay,
and you can go ahead and say your titled to
sheriff here in Perkins, here in Perkins.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
County yup, Perkins County Sheriff.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
When did you first start to hear about these drone
sidings in your specific area?
Speaker 5 (14:33):
The first time was Sunday night, around eight thirty.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And what's been your biggest concern?
Speaker 5 (14:41):
I think the biggest concern is just the uncertainty. It
would be nice to know who owns the drones and
what the purpose of the flights is. We're working with
agencies within the federal government, the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
the Department of Homeland Security, the Nebraska State Patrol, which
is a state agency.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
You know.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
Again, like I said, I think everybody's putting their minds
together and investigating to get to the bottom of this
as quickly as they can.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Have you ever seen anything remotely similar to this?
Speaker 5 (15:12):
This is the first time we've experienced anything like this
or that I have.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah, as this investigation continues, would there ever be you know,
would you ever shoot one down?
Speaker 5 (15:21):
You know, anytime you shoot a weapon, there are a
lot of things that you have to consider, and you know,
a big concern of mine would be what goes up
must come down. So if you shoot a round of
ammunition into the sky, if you hit your target, you
know that's good, target's going to come down somewhere. You're
responsible for that. If you miss the target, you got
(15:44):
to shell up to air bullet that's still got to
come down. So I don't know that we would take
very lightly shooting things out of the air if we
were requested to do so, you know, we would probably
go back to the agency that made that request and
let them know that we felt maybe they could do
that themselves.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
And I've talked to a lot of people around town,
in Imperial and west of town, in different areas, and
you know, a couple of them have even said that
these drums could be dropping things out of them.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
There were some items that had shown up on the ground,
so there there were some things that showed up out
in the country on a county road.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Yeah. The the items were in a I guess what
you would call kind of a mesh bag, and then
there was a frozen mass in there. What you're referring
to is something called a track log or a pivot track,
and it's a device that or it's a bag that
(16:54):
farmers hang on there on the span between the wheels
on the pivots. Somebody had taken some of those off
of a pivot and likely thrown them on the back
of a pickup and was driving down a country road
and lost a few of them. It was just coincidental.
They were picked up in an area where drones had
(17:16):
been seen traversing, you know, back and forth across that area,
and I think that's how, you know, how that all
that speculation all started. Those have been identified by the
company that manufactures them as being used products.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
It was definitely something that caught.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Our attention, you know, and that we looked into immediately
to figure out, you know, what was going on.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
He wanted me to believe these capsules were used on
a pivot sprinkler system, even though the sheriff was convinced
they weren't being released from unknown objects. I later learned
that field tests for methamphetamines were conducted on the track
logs because initially no one could confirm what they were.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
So, yeah, they called me. I assume they probably checked
on our website and saw those. They know what we
do for business, they know they know me personally.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I soon met Dave Janssen, his company produces the track
logs Sheriff Bruggemann spoke of.
Speaker 7 (18:16):
They're basically about a six inch by foot cylinder in
a net wrap bag like a mesh net that you
would put over to keep birds out of a raspberry
bush or something like that. That's what it looks like,
and then it's a gel inside of there that's held together.
It's kind of a clear white gel and that's pretty
(18:38):
much all they are.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
With that description, it sounded like the logs could be
from another world. A few people even had their own
name for them.
Speaker 7 (18:48):
Space potatoes. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's just hilarious to me.
But if you know what it is, it's innocuous and
you're just like, whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
What was the story they told you of how they
found these these track logs.
Speaker 7 (19:01):
Yeah, they'd found them on a road in the middle
of the night where the drones had been and that
thing had had showed up, so that made everybody nervous,
and they sent it. I believe they sent it to
the state to haven't analyzed because they weren't sure what
it was before they got a hold of me. Honestly,
I laughed the whole time. It was quite hilarious to
(19:21):
get that phone call.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You're from a small tent. I'm from a small tent.
What do you make of this? You know, whole situation
of people seeing these these things in the sky?
Speaker 7 (19:30):
Ah, the drones, Well, the drones are interesting. I've got
some friends in the military that said it sounds like
a military operation. I've got friends in conspiracy groups that
say it's definitely some sort of you know, round up
thing for the rural people. And I know that one
sheriff's office put out a notice saying they wanted to
(19:52):
have people looking for such and such a vehicle. Within
an hour, that whole thing had been reversed and they
said there's nothing to see here.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Officers were now searching for vehicles. Why share a description
and change the story? Something wasn't adding up coming up
on obscure invasion of the drones.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
That they there that said that they had reports of
shots fired at thrones as we was.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Looking at some pictographs of dark Shadow.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Going forward, we are not going to talk about any
of the details that that any of us undertake to
try to get to the bottom of what's going on.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
If you have any information surrounding the events detailed in
this podcast, or have your own similar account, please visit
our website at obscurumseries.com and share your story. You'll also
find exclusive behind the scenes content on the site. To
(21:20):
connect with us on social media, you can follow @obscurum_series
and @gabelenners on all social platforms. OBSCURUM is produced by
Imagine and Lenners Entertainment for iHeartMedia. This series is written, hosted,
and produced by Me Gabe Lenners. It's executive produced by
(21:45):
Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Carl Welker, Nathan Kloke, Nikki etour
in Me. Additional production by Jacob Plough. Music and sound
effects courtesy of Epidemic Sound. Brand management and digital design
(22:06):
by Labyrinth Brand Co. Video editing by Alex Simikopenko. This
project was mixed and mastered by Jacob Plough. Special thanks
to Dan Bodanski, Josh Hiller, Keeton Storts, Bryson Keyes, Ailey Birchfield,
(22:26):
David Wasserman, Katrina Norvel and my family. OBSCURUM
the Drones is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Follow now
Last time on OBSCURUM
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Drones, I saw some type of craft.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
It just disappears one minute was there one minute It wasn't.
Speaker 4 (00:17):
Somebody's making money doing this, otherwise it wouldn't exist. Normally,
it would.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Say like local, Like if it's a local call, it
would say Sterling, Colorado, where it would say where it's from.
It had lifted Palestinian territory.
Speaker 5 (00:30):
I have heard and I haven't seen.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I seen a picture of like a green substance that's
been dropped.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Could you make out that it was in fact a drone?
Speaker 6 (00:40):
Sounds better than a UFO identified flying object?
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Basically, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
A quick note, some material in this episode is graphic
and unsettling. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
The first time was Sunday night. Yeah, the items were
in a I guess what you would call kind of
a mesh bag, and then there was a frozen mass
in there.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
When I finally got the answer about what was in
that mesh bag, I'd had a crazy twenty four hours
that started when Marcie added to the already strangeness of
this story by saying something was falling from drones at night.
But that was only the beginning chapter five, bad juju.
(01:54):
I'm glad they have coffee here. I was absolutely last
night researching this, looking through articles. If the green stuff
was being dropped from these mysterious objects, someone had seen
it firsthand, taken a picture and shared it. I racked
my brain to figure out who may know more. I
(02:15):
left a message with a friend who used to be
a local reporter. Then I searched for information. I'd heard
about a crew of people who'd banded together to investigate
the sightings themselves.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
When I was little, I had ricorring dreams, and in
those dreams, I was old man, and in those dreams,
I was exploring in the different mountain ranges, different sides.
I think I started looking maybe when I was seventeen
or eighteen, and I would just look the satellite and
(02:49):
just and maps and anything i'd get a hold of.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
When I connected with Rod Miller, who started the group,
he described himself as a concern local with a lifelong
passion for studying geography in ancient history. Everyone thinks these
are drones. For better or worse, people are saying there's
drones out here.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
For me and the group that I started, we used
the word drone because it was comfortable to other people
because if you mentioned UFO, you know, the drone was,
you could talk about it without people up stamping.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
You're crazy. At what point do you go ahead and
start this group? After those first few sightings.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Right, okay, we were out and literally we counted it's
like eighty some of these craft and I have nine grandkids,
four kids, and they all live in this area. Instantly,
my concern was, you know, one, they weren't legal. They
(03:55):
didn't have the three life system. That's whether you're militaria
or whether you're not up military. That is normally what
they have. So that's pretty much what YT started.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
By this point, the group had a small presence on
social media. However, I became aware that the most devoted
members had moved to private channels to share their thoughts.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
What happens is the is the bright lighted orb drone,
whatever you want to call it. We'll get up in
the sky and when you first, if you don't see
it get there, it just looks like another star up there.
But as it's sitting there, you know you'll and you're
watching it, zoomed in on it with the with your camera.
When you do, you'll just see these little red lights
(04:41):
drop out of it. And then those little red lights
will work this sky. And I say work because it
seems like they're working, and they'll work their way down
to the ground a lot of times. When they get
near the ground, then this like a rid beam of
light will go across the ground.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
There was something very compelling about Rod. He had tattoos
covering his face and arms, a gray beard, and piercing eyes.
He was passionate, and I had a feeling I was
only beginning to see how driven he actually was. Rod
never mentioned that he'd seen anything falling from unexplained aircraft,
(05:24):
but he did suggest that I contact a cattle rancher
named Alex Peterson. Alex had locked in on one of
the aircraft with his gun in a thermal scope at night,
recording what he saw.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
What the fuck? Oh that is beyond creepy.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Whose two objects that it is really hard to keep.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
On and is coming right over me and I'm trying
to hold steady.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
He didn't pull the trigger.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Oh there's another one coming off of it.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
What in the hell?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Alex described the scene to me that took place above
his farm.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
You know, I was watching it and it was coming
right down the river with blinking lights, a red blinking
light and a solid white light, and all of a
sudden it turned towards me. The lights turned off, so
I'm like, oh, okay, where did it go? So I
looked through my scope and then I could see this
(06:27):
square five by five bucks in orange with bars going
through it. It was the weirdest damn thing I ever seen.
And then all of a sudden, three bright lights which
I could only see through my scope, so they had
the infrared. I'm not kidney and my hair was standing up.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Do you feel like this strone was targeting you specifically
and you you were there?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah? Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
As we visited, it didn't take long to realize the
ranch held many secrets.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I get up there, the cow is setting upright, and
there's completely cut apart, but she's setting like, you know,
like a cow sleeps now. I was like, what in
the heck? All the neck, the skin off of her neck,
all the way down to her shoulder was just gone.
(07:27):
I looked up on the under side of her skulp
because all the meat was off of her the side
of her head, and there was a hole right up
into her brain.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Bad juju since twenty thirteen, thirteen cows had been violently
killed in different areas of the ranch. There was no
explanation as to how they died. Alex showed me photos
of what he experienced in the pastor his description of
one of the deaths was extremely disturbing.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
She had been dropped, and you could see she'd been
dropped just from the vcs that had been shot out.
I mean, like thirty feet she's gone, bust it up.
The calf was gone. She would have been six months pregnant,
and then all the jaw and the tongue was gone again,
and the eyeballs were still there. So it was not
(08:24):
a predator, because that's the first thing they would have done.
I looked around for tracks. There's no predator tracks. There's
no pickup tracks, nothing. I pulled my pick up up
about fifteen feet away from it, and I called my brother,
and so him and his son came up. We started
walking up and he's walking. I walked up to the
(08:45):
cow and he's walking up, and my phone just went
no service as soon as he got up, you know,
with one hundred and fifty feet no service, his son
one hundred and fifty feet no service. Walked back and
then our phones would work. I went and got back
in my pickup, which is Brandy pickup. Dead, dead as
(09:08):
a door nail.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
His cell phone lost service and truck battery died in
close proximity to a dead cow. It was my assumption
that would ever killed these animals had to approach them
on the ground. Alex was convinced it came from the sky.
Speaker 6 (09:28):
There was no tracks. He couldn't find any foot tracks,
any pickup tracks. And how anybody would even know how
to get in there because it's very inaccessible too, How
would they get the cow down to do that? And
three they were visibly dropped. Looking at the cows, they
(09:50):
were all busted up. I mean they were busted up bad,
so they had to have fallen from least fifty to
one hundred feet.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Would you just drive yourself as someone who's fascinated by
strange aircrafts.
Speaker 6 (10:04):
No, not necessarily. I raised cattle. I've been around kettle
my entire life, and when this started happening, I knew
something was wrong with it because I've seen you know,
cattle dye. I've seen all that before, but this was different. Now,
I'll say, with the mutilations and just the weird conditions,
(10:27):
and then the drones started flying over just weird things
that pay a lot more attention.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Now Chapter six, Space Potatoes. I had a miscall from
the reporter i'd reached out to that morning. I called
(10:53):
her back and it wasn't long before she told me
about a couple who lived outside of Imperial. They'd been
visiting with the sheriff near their home when they overheard
through his police radio that drones were dropping things on
county roads and someone had gathered them all up. This
was now the second time I'd heard about stuff falling
(11:14):
from flying objects, in addition to Alex's assumption that at
least one of his cows was killed on impact. Were
these reports true or just another small town rumor?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
So what do you really think is going on with
all this?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
I don't know. You know, people have drones in the county.
They use them for cattle and stuff, but not like
on a big scale, and they're never the big But
the weirdest thing is is, you know, people have seen
strange lights in this area forever. There's even been well,
you know how small towns are, but people have been
(11:55):
talking and saying these things maybe dropping something out of them,
and so I'm to know what I'm going to do.
I think tonight I just may call it a night.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
And come home.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
After a quick call with my mom. A few hours later,
I pulled off the highway near the Imperial Airport to
see one of those beautiful Nebraska sunsets. As it got dark,
mystifying lights began to appear in the sky. It was
at this time that I was sent a picture of
what Marcy said the craft were dropping. In the photo,
(12:37):
I could see what Marcy had mentioned. It looked like
they were being kept behind a chain link gate in
a dark storage facility and didn't resemble anything I'd seen before.
They were capsules roughly six to twelve inches long and
wrapped tightly in some type of green covering. I'd heard
(12:57):
a couple deputies from the nearby town of just north
of Imperial may have had them in their possession. I
dialed Perkins County Sheriff James Bruggaman's office, and his luck
would have it, he wasn't in. He was supposed to
be back that afternoon, so I left a message, But
I soon realized it may take me going there in
(13:20):
person to get him to talk The courthouse is located
near the edge of town. It's an older brick building
with three levels. I parked in front, walked up a
few flights of stairs, and went straight to the front desk.
(13:41):
I was told the sheriff was in his office but
unavailable to talk. I tried connecting with the receptionist by
explaining that I'd grown up in Imperial and played football
for the local high school. I wasn't leaving until I
had answers about those capsules. I was eventually led back
(14:03):
to the sheriff's office and given an interview. I had
many questions, but knew I could lead with the capsules.
I didn't want to make him feel as if he
couldn't trust me with sensitive information. I'll go ahead and
just have you say your full name, James Brugman, Okay,
and you can go ahead and say your titled to
sheriff here in Perkins, here in Perkins.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
County yup, Perkins County Sheriff.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
When did you first start to hear about these drone
sidings in your specific area?
Speaker 5 (14:33):
The first time was Sunday night, around eight thirty.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And what's been your biggest concern?
Speaker 5 (14:41):
I think the biggest concern is just the uncertainty. It
would be nice to know who owns the drones and
what the purpose of the flights is. We're working with
agencies within the federal government, the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
the Department of Homeland Security, the Nebraska State Patrol, which
is a state agency.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
You know.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
Again, like I said, I think everybody's putting their minds
together and investigating to get to the bottom of this
as quickly as they can.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Have you ever seen anything remotely similar to this?
Speaker 5 (15:12):
This is the first time we've experienced anything like this
or that I have.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah, as this investigation continues, would there ever be you know,
would you ever shoot one down?
Speaker 5 (15:21):
You know, anytime you shoot a weapon, there are a
lot of things that you have to consider, and you know,
a big concern of mine would be what goes up
must come down. So if you shoot a round of
ammunition into the sky, if you hit your target, you
know that's good, target's going to come down somewhere. You're
responsible for that. If you miss the target, you got
(15:44):
to shell up to air bullet that's still got to
come down. So I don't know that we would take
very lightly shooting things out of the air if we
were requested to do so, you know, we would probably
go back to the agency that made that request and
let them know that we felt maybe they could do
that themselves.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
And I've talked to a lot of people around town,
in Imperial and west of town, in different areas, and
you know, a couple of them have even said that
these drums could be dropping things out of them.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
There were some items that had shown up on the ground,
so there there were some things that showed up out
in the country on a county road.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
Yeah. The the items were in a I guess what
you would call kind of a mesh bag, and then
there was a frozen mass in there. What you're referring
to is something called a track log or a pivot track,
and it's a device that or it's a bag that
(16:54):
farmers hang on there on the span between the wheels
on the pivots. Somebody had taken some of those off
of a pivot and likely thrown them on the back
of a pickup and was driving down a country road
and lost a few of them. It was just coincidental.
They were picked up in an area where drones had
(17:16):
been seen traversing, you know, back and forth across that area,
and I think that's how, you know, how that all
that speculation all started. Those have been identified by the
company that manufactures them as being used products.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
It was definitely something that caught.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Our attention, you know, and that we looked into immediately
to figure out, you know, what was going on.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
He wanted me to believe these capsules were used on
a pivot sprinkler system, even though the sheriff was convinced
they weren't being released from unknown objects. I later learned
that field tests for methamphetamines were conducted on the track
logs because initially no one could confirm what they were.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
So, yeah, they called me. I assume they probably checked
on our website and saw those. They know what we
do for business, they know they know me personally.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I soon met Dave Janssen, his company produces the track
logs Sheriff Bruggemann spoke of.
Speaker 7 (18:16):
They're basically about a six inch by foot cylinder in
a net wrap bag like a mesh net that you
would put over to keep birds out of a raspberry
bush or something like that. That's what it looks like,
and then it's a gel inside of there that's held together.
It's kind of a clear white gel and that's pretty
(18:38):
much all they are.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
With that description, it sounded like the logs could be
from another world. A few people even had their own
name for them.
Speaker 7 (18:48):
Space potatoes. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's just hilarious to me.
But if you know what it is, it's innocuous and
you're just like, whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
What was the story they told you of how they
found these these track logs.
Speaker 7 (19:01):
Yeah, they'd found them on a road in the middle
of the night where the drones had been and that
thing had had showed up, so that made everybody nervous,
and they sent it. I believe they sent it to
the state to haven't analyzed because they weren't sure what
it was before they got a hold of me. Honestly,
I laughed the whole time. It was quite hilarious to
(19:21):
get that phone call.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You're from a small tent. I'm from a small tent.
What do you make of this? You know, whole situation
of people seeing these these things in the sky?
Speaker 7 (19:30):
Ah, the drones, Well, the drones are interesting. I've got
some friends in the military that said it sounds like
a military operation. I've got friends in conspiracy groups that
say it's definitely some sort of you know, round up
thing for the rural people. And I know that one
sheriff's office put out a notice saying they wanted to
(19:52):
have people looking for such and such a vehicle. Within
an hour, that whole thing had been reversed and they
said there's nothing to see here.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Officers were now searching for vehicles. Why share a description
and change the story? Something wasn't adding up coming up
on obscure invasion of the drones.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
That they there that said that they had reports of
shots fired at thrones as we was.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Looking at some pictographs of dark Shadow.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Going forward, we are not going to talk about any
of the details that that any of us undertake to
try to get to the bottom of what's going on.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
If you have any information surrounding the events detailed in
this podcast, or have your own similar account, please visit
our website at obscurumseries.com and share your story. You'll also
find exclusive behind the scenes content on the site. To
(21:20):
connect with us on social media, you can follow @obscurum_series
and @gabelenners on all social platforms. OBSCURUM is produced by
Imagine and Lenners Entertainment for iHeartMedia. This series is written, hosted,
and produced by Me Gabe Lenners. It's executive produced by
(21:45):
Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Carl Welker, Nathan Kloke, Nikki etour
in Me. Additional production by Jacob Plough. Music and sound
effects courtesy of Epidemic Sound. Brand management and digital design
(22:06):
by Labyrinth Brand Co. Video editing by Alex Simikopenko. This
project was mixed and mastered by Jacob Plough. Special thanks
to Dan Bodanski, Josh Hiller, Keeton Storts, Bryson Keyes, Ailey Birchfield,
(22:26):
David Wasserman, Katrina Norvel and my family. OBSCURUM
the Drones is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Follow now
Host
Gabe Lenners
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